ACFE Insights

The days of the traditional college classroom, where the professor lectures on a topic and later gives exams on that material, are gone forever. The preferred style today, both by the professor as well as the student, is case-based learning. Students are expected to do the relative background reading beforehand and come to class ready to take on a case study, laser focused on the topic. Faculty spend their time doing the research and writing the case study for use in the classroom. This is a lot more interesting for all involved, students and faculty alike. It drives home the salient points of the subject matter and gives the students more real-world experience.

Technological advancements present opportunities for both fraud perpetrators and those trying to stop them. As criminals find new ways to exploit technology to commit their schemes and target new potential victims, anti-fraud professionals must ensure they are likewise adopting new technologies that are the most effective in navigating the evolving threat landscape.

Fraud inherently deals with lots of numerical data and fraud examiners are experts at diving into those numbers and finding evidence of wrong-doing. However, with balance sheets, ledgers, expense reports and other dense documents at the forefront of many investigations, it’s easy to forget the stories of those people affected by the fraud.

In our latest sub-report, we focus more closely on how occupational fraud impacts the Middle East and North Africa. This study is based on the 101 cases of occupational fraud from the region that were reported in our 2017 Global Fraud Survey. Collectively, these cases, which accounted for 5% of all cases in our global study, caused a median loss of USD 200,000 and lasted a median 12 months before they were detected.

In a new sub-report, we now focus more closely on how occupational fraud impacts Sub-Saharan Africa. This study is based on the 267 cases of occupational fraud from Sub-Saharan Africa that were reported in our 2017 Global Fraud Survey. Collectively, these cases, which accounted for 13% of all cases in our global study, caused a median loss of USD 90,000 and lasted a median 12 months before they were detected.